Chapters 28-29
CHAPTER 28
Isaiah gives a message to Ephraim (Britain and the British
Commonwealth). He tell you Britain, woe to your crown of pride,
and to the drunkards, which is indeed the way of more and more
British - drinking till drunk. Your once British beauty is fading
fast, you are the pity and sin of Europe, the leading nation in
many ways that is not good to be leading in. The Eternal says
that the crown of pride, and the drunkards will be trodden under
foot, and the glorious beauty shall fade away as the flower does
in the blazing hot summer heat. Yet in that destruction to come,
during that time, the end result will be that the residue of the
people will take the Lord of hosts to be their crowning glory,
and His judgment and strength will they use to start their new
life (verses 1-6).
Isaiah goes back to warning them. The priest and the prophet
- the religious leaders have erred as if through strong drink and
swallowed up in wine. The tables they put forth as food for
people are just the vomit of filthiness (verses 7-8).
God says who is it that shall teach knowledge and who shall
teach understanding of doctrine. It is those who have been
weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast (verse 9). This is
saying that the prophets and priests of Israel are as babes, not
grown enough for true spiritual understanding, to be able to
teach anyone what is correct and what are the truths of God. The
truth of God is built up on solid ground, it must be search for,
as the Bereans did when the apostle Paul preached to them (Acts
17:10). You must look for it, you search it out, you must have the
right attitude of mind (verse 10). But because the teachers do
not, and the people do not (see what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1-
4), so God would be to them as someone of a different language -
they would not understand His word or truths. God's word would be
to them like a jig-saw puzzle which they had not the slightest
clue on how to put together correctly. It would be this here and that
there, some over there and some elsewhere, it would not make
sense to them, they would be lost in a maze and would be broken
and snared and finally just fall backwards in utter confusion
(verses 9-13).
When religious leaders are cornered with knowing they do not
understand God's word, they are taken in their own snare, they
are broken, they know they have fallen.
Isaiah now moves to the center of Israel's worship -
Jerusalem, the highest order of religion in the land we shall say
(verse 14).
The religious leaders have made a covenant with death and
hell, that when trouble is facing their religious errors or the
nations as a whole, they have deceived themselves by saying no
harm will come to them or the people. They have made a deal with
deception, a deal that they falsely believe their falsehoods will
not bring death on them or their people. They believe their
outward form of holy religion will secure for them and their
people salvation in this life and the life to come (verse 15).
God will judge them by His foundation stone and they shall
be found wanting. This verse 16 is used in the New Testament
about Christ Jesus being that foundation or corner stone. The
words of Christ, the truth of the inspired teachings of the
Scriptures, will judge and break those who will not be in
agreement with the sure foundation of God's corner stone, the
Christ who inspired the men who wrote the books of the Bible.
God will judge, He will use the plummet to ascertain the ones who
are not in line with His inspired Word. And there will be a wind
and hail and the storm will come and uncover the lies and false
teachings of the false prophets and religious leaders. The
covenant they think they have made to secure salvation with
teachings and practices not based on the corner stone of Christ,
will be broken, and they will be trodden down, exposed for the
scam artists they are (verses 16-18). God will uncover their
deceit and it will be made clear that what they have does not fit
the reality of God's truth, just as some beds are too short for
some men to stretch out and fit correctly (verses 19-20).
Isaiah goes on to say to the people, to us today, you better
not mock, laugh at this, or your bands of punishment will be made
yet stronger, for a consumption, a punishment, has been
determined by God to come upon all the earth at the end time
(verses 21-22).
Isaiah tells us to LISTEN, give ear, HEAR the VOICE of God,
as He will deal with everybody and all nations, as He must, to
the degree of what is needed to bring the end result of a good
harvest - REPENTANCE! The analogy of the farmer is given. The
farmer does not always plow and never sow. He does not forever
cultivate the soil and never plant. He does finally plant his
seed, each in its own section of land. The farmer knows what to
do for each and every result he wants from his seed and land. He
also does not thresh all the crops the same way. A heavy sledge
is not used on dill, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing
wheel is never rolled on cummin; instead it is beaten softly.
Bread grain is easily crushed, so he doesn't keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheel of a cart, but he does not
pulverize it.
So the Lord Almighty teaches and corrects and punishes, in
accordance as He must for each person and nation, to achieve the
best and finest result, when the harvest is to be gathered in.
The punishment on Ephraim, Israel, Judah, and the false
prophets and teachers of religion, shall be carried out with the
wisdom and balance from God, to bring the best result in the end.
CHAPTER 29
Ariel, where David dwelt, is given to represent Jerusalem
and Judah. Even the compilers of my KJV Bible have as a heading
- "Woe pronounced on Jerusalem."
Judah - the Jews of the Holy Land - Jerusalem - will have
armies to encamp around her, and to besiege her. Her destruction
will come in the last days, as Jesus said it would in Luke 21:20.
The abomination of desolation will be the destruction of
Jerusalem by the armies of the Beast Power Empire - the King of
the North - the last resurrected Holy Roman Empire of Europe,
taking shape even now in the nations of Europe. This destruction
of Jerusalem will come in relative suddenness. Jesus said that
His people in Jerusalem, will look from their roof tops, or out
in their fields, and see the armies surrounding Jerusalem. They
are to flee to the hills, not even to try and gather clothes,
return to their homes, but to get out FAST! For as Isaiah was
inspired to say, the people of Jerusalem, will be visited of the
Lord, He will allow it to happen, there will be THUNDER,
EARTHQUAKE, GREAT NOISE, WITH STORM AND TEMPEST, AND THE FLAME OF
DEVOURING FIRE!! (verses 1-6).
Yet, all that come against Jerusalem and Judah in the last
days, will in the overall time scheme of world events through the
ages, just be as like a dream in the night - oh maybe a night-
mare dream, but it will not last that long as the eternity of
time is concerned. God likens it to a man having a dream of
thirst, he drank before going to sleep, is awake after his dream
of thirst, is a little faint by it all, then it has passed away.
I've had a few dreams of this sort. I was upset by my dream, woke
up being upset, then in the reality of it all, it was gone, all
was fine once more.
So the punishment on Jerusalem and Judah will not be
pleasant, but it will be relatively short in the terms of eternal
time (verses 7-8).
The next section (verses 9-14) is termed by the KJV
compilers of my edition - "Spiritual Blindness." And rightly so it
is. No matter how the people or leaders would like to understand
the sealed visions of God, it will not be understood. The people
and the so-called teachers are like drunk men, they cannot
perceive correctly truth from error. And most cannot even open
the seals, no matter if they are called prophets, rulers,
learned, unlearned. It makes no difference they cannot understand
the real truths of God. The Lord will not allow them to
understand, because you Israelites have honored God with the
mouth, but in your heart you have walked away from Him, and your
fear of Him, is taught to you by the traditions and precepts of
men (verses 9-13).
Jesus had some strong words for such outward show of
religion, you'll find it in Mark chapter 7.
So, a wondrous work God will do in Israel. All wisdom of
those who should be wise will perish, and the understanding of
those who should be the prudent ones in Israel shall be hid. It
just will not be there. Your leaders, Oh Israel and Judah, will
not have the wisdom or the understanding to lead you in the right
direction, to lead you away from calamity and final destruction,
because of your sins. They may make what sounds like good
speeches, tell you things you want to hear, how they will make it
all better, but in the reality of it all, they will be unwise and
lack true understanding. They may carry a Bible under their arm
now and again, speak religious sounding words now and then, but
they will not be able to turn you away from sin, bring you to
real repentance, and stop the downward path you have taken to
destruction and punishment from God (verse 14).
Verses 15-16 is about DECEIT, and God does condemn it! Many
deceitful things are done in the dark within your nations. What
goes on behind closed doors in many places of work, business,
local, state, and federal Government, would shock is to death as
they say, if we can be shocked any more. As it says here, surely
your turning of things upside-down shall be esteemed as the
potter's clay, for shall the work say to him that made it, He
made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it,
He had no understanding.
Things today, right from wrong, truth from lies,
righteousness, sin, has indeed been turned upside-down and
inside-out. For hundreds of years we have said the state of
marriage is between a man and a woman, now we say, no, it is
whatever you say or think it is, hence we have turned one truth
upside-down and now legalize same sex marriages. We have said for
centuries God created marriage, and it was Adam and Eve, now we
say, we have created marriage and it can be Adam and Steve, or
Sally and Sue.
The deceit of all kinds is ever increasing in our nations,
truth and honesty, are it seems, dirty words today.
Yes, Israel and Judah, you will reap what you are sowing.
The time is coming to receive your just reward for your works of
sin. Over and over again Isaiah warns you of this end result of
your ways, but then we have Isaiah being inspired to tell us the
rest of the story, the time beyond the punishment, the time of
RESTORATION of all things, the time of the wonderful age to come.
So again some of that age is given to us in verses 17-24.
The Eternal says that in a short while (after all the
destruction of the last 42 months of this age as the time span
the book of Revelation gives) Lebanon shall be turned into a
fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be like a forest. It
is the time a mighty miracles, the deaf will hear the words of the
book (the Bible) read to them, the eyes of the blind will see out
of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble will increase their
joy in the Lord, the poor (spiritual and physical) shall rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel. For the mighty one (in attitude
and/or physical) will be brought to nothing, the scorner is
consumed, the ones who watch for and live for practicing iniquity
will be cut off. All kinds of evil and sin will stop in that age.
It will be a time when the House of Jacob shall not be
ashamed nor their faces wax pale from fear and death. When the
people of Israel shall see their children once more in their
midst, as a new generation is born, they shall glorify the God of
Israel, they shall respectfully fear Him and sanctify His Holy
name.
It will be a time when those who have erred in attitude of
mind, and live into that new age, will come to correct
understanding, and those who murmured at the truths of God shall
learn what is the truth of the matter in the teachings and
doctrines of the Lord.
What an age that will be, and Isaiah will tell us more about
that age in future passages that he wrote down for us.
.........................
To be continued
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